Business Trip To Las Vegas

This photo is of the Excaliber Casino and its theme is based in Medieval times, more precisely, the Knights of the Roundtable.  They have a dinner theatre where you have dinner and then watch a show of various medieval tournaments, like jousting.  We decided not to go to it, but it sounds like it would be fun.

This was our first night out on the strip in Las Vegas!!  We visited the New York New York Casino and the Excaliber Casino.  We are planning on visiting more of the casinos on the strip.  There is also a rollercoaster at the New York New York Casino that I want to take a ride!!

We really haven’t been on the strip in Las Vegas.  Quite a few years ago, we visited some relatives who were staying at an RV Park at Circus Circus, but we didn’t explore any of Las Vegas.

We are attending a Symposium this weekend related to our website business and other things, like marketing and blogging.  We are looking forward to learning a bunch of new things!

Christine  —  Glass Artist

Check out our glass website!  The link is in the About Me section. 

Elegant Glass Dichroic Pendant

This is a gorgeous pendant: simple and elegant.  I fused a layer of dichroic glass (the small box pattern) in between a piece of Bullseye black glass underneath and a piece of Bullseye clear on top (www.bullseyeglass.com).  I full fused this glass pendant which rounded the corners.

Christine  –  Glass Artist

Check out my website and all my glass creations.  The link to my website is in the About Me section.

Made a Trip to Portland, Oregon to Buy Glass and Other Things

We just got back from Portland, Oregon where we went to Bullseye Glass (www.bullseyeglass.com) to buy a bunch of glass, some glass frit and glass stringers.  We bought all these things wholesale, so we got a great price!  If you buy $1,000 worth of items, you get 50% off.  We were aiming for the $1,000, but went overboard and spent $1,200 (half off: $600)  🙂

We also bought two new kilns from Georgies (www.georgies.com)!!  We bought a small Skutt Firebox (www.skutt.com) for fusing jewelry and just testing glass before making a large piece.  We were able to bring this one home with us.  The other kiln we bought is a big one.  It is a Skutt 1414 with a lid lifter and a small viewing window.  We had to get that one delivered and we should get it in a couple of weeks. 

I will be able to fuse several pieces of glass at one time and then slump those fused pieces into glass bowls, glass plates, glass spoon rests, glass candle holders all at the same time.

Now I will be able to make a whole bunch more glass at one time.  My first kiln is an old Skutt 181 and it had manual controls, so I spent a lot of time sitting by the kiln and watching the temperature and turn the kiln up or down or hold for a certain amount of time.  My new Skutt 1414 has a controller, so I can program it, and won’t have to spend any time watching it.  I am sooo excited about the controller!!

 Keep checking back as I begin to make lots more glass at one time!!  Check out my website (www.mastersglassart.com) where I will put a lot of the glass items.

Christine — Glass Artist

Circles and Triangles in Glass

Don’t you just love these colors in this plate?  I started with 2 layers of clear Spectrum 96.  I cut out the circles and triangles and put them on each of the layers, then I fused the two layers together.  I fired the kiln to 1475 degrees and let it soak for 10 minutes to flatten the glass.  Then I annealed (cooled off very slowly) it — this relieves all the internal stress of the glass heating up and cooling off.  The plate is much stronger after doing this.

I put the glass on my plate mold and slumped the glass into the plate mold.  This plate mold would make an excellent dinner plate set for entertaining.  If you’re interested, I do custom orders and you could choose any color or design that you want, but it has to be something that I could do.   

Christine – Glass Artist

Check out my Glass website!  The link is in my About Me section.

Took Some Glass Items To A Gallery Yesterday

The title really sounds impressive, doesn’t it?  Actually, I didn’t know what to call the place where I took my Glass Items.  A very nice gentleman, Bernie, approached me at my last Craft Fair and asked me if I would put my items up for commission?  I said sure!  Then he explained what he has going in his store.  He has about 15 areas for artists to display their work and offer it for sale, of course.  I hope he can sell some of my glass!!

This is a pretty butterfly pin that I had for sale at my last Craft Fair.  I had the butterfly for quite awhile, but I just never got around to gluing a pin to the back of it.  Awhile ago, I bought a mold on the Internet called a butterfly mold.  I love butterflies, so I bought it.  Two small glass butterflies came with it.  This is one of them.  They were flat, so I got to use my new mold to give the butterflies some dimension.  If you can’t tell from this picture, the butterfly has a slight v-shape. 

Christine – Glass Artist

Check out my Glass Creations on my website.  The link is in my About Me section.

Glass Spoon Rests

I bought a couple of spoon rest molds, because I really like the results.  I have been trying different colors of glass and adding some additional accents to some of them.

This blue glass spoon rest consists of two layers of a blue wispy glass.  I fused these two layers to get one solid piece of glass.   After that, I put the glass on the spoon rest mold and slumped the glass into the mold.

I will show you more of the glass spoon rests that I made when I take pictures of them.

Christine – Glass Artist

Check out my glass website!  The link is in the About Me section.

Colorful Lines

  

I made this glass pendant with two layers of clear glass and dichroic stringers on clear glass.  I put dichroic stringers on top of each layer of clear glass and fired them separately.   You can hardly tell from the photo, but you can see the 3-D effect this made after fusing the two layers of clear glass together.

As with all dichroic with clear glass, the color changes with the lighting and also with different color backgrounds.  For example, the colors change depending on the color of your shirt or blouse you are wearing.  It is really amazing and hard to understand until you actually see it for yourself.

Christine – Glass Artist

Check out my glass art website!  The link is in my About Me section. 

Really Cool and Colorful Vase

Don’t you just love this cute little vase?  I finished this vase a couple of days ago and I love how it turned out. 

First, I fused two layers of clear glass (System 96) together that was 5″ in diameter.   Then I placed bits of glass, stringers and frit on top of the clear glass.  I set up my 5″ drop ring mold at a height of 3″.  I fired up the kiln to 1100 degrees and let it soak for 45 minutes.  This allowed the colored glass to fuse slightly to the clear which saved a firing.  After the soak, I slowly increased the temperature to 1300 degrees and held it until the clear glass fell through the ring and down to the kiln shelf. 

I love this one so much, I have already started making a larger vase.  The clear glass will be 7 1/2″ in diameter and I will use my 9″ drop ring mold.  I am considering making this vase 6″ tall, so I will need three layers of clear glass with the colored glass, frit and stringers on top.

Let me know what colors you think I should use for this vase.  I’d love to hear what you have in mind!!

Christine – Glass Artist

Check out my website.  The link is in the About Me section on the right side of this page.

Blue Daisy Sun Catcher

I really love this fused glass sun catcher!  Check out the blue petals.  Can you see different colors?  The glass I used has an iridized coating, a metallic coating that shows different colors as you move it around a light source.

 I fused two layers of clear glass for the background.  I made templates for each of the pieces of the flower and cut and ground the glass to get the shapes you see.  After arranging the pieces, I put the whole glass piece into the kiln and fired it up to about 1400 degrees to get a medium fuse.  I wanted the flower pieces to have some dimension, instead of fusing the pieces until everything was flat.  

Christine

Check out my Glass Website — the link is in the About Me section.

Slumped a Glass Bowl

Today I slumped the mauve opal glass into a bowl.  This glass I had previously slumped into a bowl, but it came out with uneven edges.  So, I put the bowl on my kiln shelf the other day and fired the kiln up until the glass was flat again.  It was not perfectly round, so I had to grind the edges until I had a nice round piece of glass again. 

The glass bowl is still cooling off in the kiln, but I think the edges are uneven again, or at least lopsided.  It was hard to tell. 

I am getting the feeling that this bowl mold is for an expert slumper.  I downloaded some information to help me slump this glass in a mold with steep sides.  Perhaps I just need to practice till it comes out right. 

It is a very interesting bowl.  We have also thought about turning the mold upside down and putting a piece of glass on top.  This is called draping.  I think I will try this next time.

Christine

Glass artist